June 2013

June 25, 2013

We first reported on patent trolls about a year ago in a report titled "Patent Trolls have the Smartphone Industry in a State of Emergency," which covered an important study from the Boston University School of Law. The study found that "patent trolls" or "non-practicing entities (NPEs) cost the U.S. software and hardware companies US$29 billion in 2011. In May Apple's CEO Tim Cook pushed the patent troll issue with President Obama who has since called upon Congress to further assist US tech companies against this threat. Yesterday, one of the first blows against the patent troll industry were delivered.

In the three years since Apple's iPad became the first modern web tablet available in the US, the tablet market has continued a steady growth. Tablets have worked themselves into both our daily and workplace lives, and the iPad in particular remains the king of this personal computer segment. New stats that were just released by Chitika actually show that the iPad increased its lead in web traffic for tablets for the month of May by more than a full percentage point.

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 35 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our summary report we specifically cover a revolutionary MacBook concept patent from Apple which also covers an advanced 3D trackpad for future CAD and/or gaming applications. Apple was also granted three new design patents today covering a never before seen icon.

June 24, 2013

Worldwide devices (the combined shipments of PCs, tablets and mobile
phones) are projected to reach a whopping 2.35 billion units in 2013, a 5.9
percent increase from 2012, according to Gartner, Inc. The market is being
driven by sales in tablets, smartphones, and to a lesser extent, ultramobiles,
as PC shipments are on the decline at the moment. Our report covers more of Gartner's
industry stats while questioning their position on the coming wave of hybrid notebook-tablets.

On June 20, 2013 Samsung introduced their all-new all-in-one desktop called the One5 as noted in our cover graphic. In less than a week the Korean press is now reporting that it's dead on arrival. Samsung, who didn't' make the top five PC brands sold in the US in 2012 have officially called it quits for the desktop market. Samsung's desktop computers were never able to gain any traction in North America and they recently complained about Windows 8 not driving sales. In less than a week Samsung has gone from being excited about the desktop PC to dumping it. How embarrassing.

Industry sources have claimed today that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and its Integrated Circuit Design service partner Global UniChip have secured a three-year agreement with Apple to supply foundry services for the next A-series chips built using 20nm, 16nm and 10nm process nodes. This confirms our May report.

June 23, 2013

Apple's iPad mini is a hot product that launched with a new tri-fold Smart Cover design back in Q4 2012. On Friday, the Hong Kong IP Office officially granted Apple four distinct design patents covering the iPad mini Smart Cover. On another front, Huawei is saying that Apple is slipping in the market in the hopes of shaking things up and capturing the number three spot away from LG. The thing about Huawei is that they've taken a page right out of Apple's playbook which makes this copycat one to keep an eye on going forward.

June 22, 2013

In 2012 Apple's VP of software and iOS Scott Forstall announced that nine car companies had signed on to eyes-free Siri services with Hyundai signing on as the tenth in January. Then came Eddy Cue's announcement at this year's World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) that "iOS in the Car" was going to be available in cars in calendar 2014, which translates to new 2015 models debuting in late Q3 and early Q4 2014. Apple appears to have the lead in one of the next battlefronts in the market: eyes-free digital services for the car. Patently Apple has discovered that Microsoft is also "eyeing" this market. A new patent filing published this week by the US Patent and Trademark Office revealed one of their projects for eyes-free services for the car, and our report will give you a peek at what they've got on the drawing board. Yet at the end of the day, Apple has made a firm announcement as to when iOS in the Car will be ready whereas Microsoft is still in the dream state with nothing concrete in sight.

June 21, 2013

Korean consumers are increasingly voicing their great displeasure over rumors that Samsung Electronics is set to soon roll out a new variation of the Galaxy S4, the latest version of its flagship Galaxy smartphone line-up, which will access the so-called LTE Advanced network.

On June 14 the US Patent and Trademark Office reversed their initial decision on Apple's "bounce back" patent which was a key patent in Apple's patent infringement case against Samsung. Today, a Tokyo district court ruled that Samsung infringed on Apple's "bounce-back" patent used in displaying e-mails and documents on phones and tablet computers.

June 20, 2013

On June 20, 2013, the US Patent & Trademark Office published two patent applications from Apple that reveal possible new improvements coming to future iDevice cameras. The first improvement involves providing iDevices with superior focus features while the second one relates to advanced video stabilization that Apple's engineer creatively calls the virtual tripod. Apple began working on video stabilization back in June 2011. A secondary patent months later once again illustrated that Apple's camera team were very focused on bringing video stabilization to iDevice cameras. Apple first introduced basic video stabilization on the iPhone in October of that year. Today's patent application both illustrates and confirms that Apple's push to achieve superior video stabilization results is an ongoing project.

On June 20, 2013, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals an invention relating to a new audio system that will optimally work with speakers that are generally hidden from view. The advanced audio system will work with an iMac, iPhone, TV and beyond. Apple's patent is highly technical discussing various components such as damping chambers and acoustic damping materials. If you're an audiophile you'll enjoy digging deeper into Apple's patent filing. For the rest of us mere mortals, be assured that Apple is working on improving audio for the iDevices that we love today and for those coming in the future.

Apple has been working on biometric sensors for fingerprint scanners for iDevices and the MacBook since at least 2009. In 2010 we reported that Apple was working on a fingerprint scanner that could work under a device's display and in late 2012 Apple revealed their fingerprint scanner for use as an e-commerce and general security feature for the iPhone. Today, the US Patent and Trademark Office revealed Apple's latest alternative fingerprint scanner design that could be integrated directly into the bezel of a given device. In operation, a user will simply swipe a finger over a surface of the sensor. The sensor will capture a number of thin strips of the fingerprint as the finger is swiped, and the complete fingerprint is assembled in software for use in authentication. Such a sensor apparatus is typically preferred when a compact sensor is desired.

June 19, 2013

Two new reports surfacing today showed that Samsung is baffled by Apple's iPad success. In the first report, we were informed that in order to stay ahead of Apple's iPad in Brazil, Samsung has decided to offer major subsidies to local sales agents to cover 30% of sales prices on average. In the second report, we were informed that Samsung just doesn't understand the American market and may have to consider dumbing down tablets and cutting prices to better compete with Apple.